Cheapest way to track if ChatGPT mentions my startup

Cheapest: do it manually for free. Once a week, ask ChatGPT a small, fixed set of questions potential customers might ask—such as “What are the best [category] tools for [audience]?”—and note whether your startup appears. Keep the exact prompts and date in a spreadsheet so you can compare results over time. Answers vary, so treat this as a rough signal, not a definitive measurement.

If you want automated tracking, Lettertrace advertises free monitoring across ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini. For a paid entry-level option, Otterly.AI lists a $29/month plan with a limited number of prompts. Check the plan details before subscribing, since pricing and limits can change. (lettertrace.com)

One distinction: Google Alerts can track web pages that mention your startup, but it won’t tell you whether ChatGPT mentioned it in an answer.

My recommendation: start with the spreadsheet for a month; pay only if running the checks becomes a chore. Use realistic buyer questions, not just your startup’s name.

The cheapest option is free: a manual check you repeat monthly. A paid tool only starts to make sense if you need daily runs or many prompts.

Free method (about $0)

• Build a prompt list. Write roughly 20–30 questions your buyers would actually type, such as "best X for Y" or "how do I..." questions. One source suggests pulling them from sales-call notes, support tickets, and Reddit thread titles in your category. Write 20–30 prompts the way your buyers would type them into ChatGPT. Not keywords: full questions with context.
• Use clean sessions. Your chat history and memory can skew answers, so run each prompt in a temporary chat, ideally logged out. Run them in a temporary chat, so your own history and memory don't shape the answer.
• Run each prompt several times. Answers vary between runs, so one check tells you little. One approach counts a mention only if it shows up in at least two of three runs.
• Log the results. For each run, note whether you're named, whether your site is cited, your position in the list, which competitors appear, and how you're described. A spreadsheet is enough.
• Repeat monthly. Track the mention rate over time rather than individual answers.

Two other free signals

• Google Analytics 4: Set it up to catch traffic from chatgpt.com. It shows visits from ChatGPT links but not the times you were named and nobody clicked.
• Bing Webmaster Tools: Its AI Performance report covers citations. One guide suggests also asking new customers "how did you hear about us?" with ChatGPT as an option.

Cheapest paid options

• Otterly.AI Lite: $29/mo for 15 prompts across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, and Copilot. It runs your prompts automatically, so you skip the manual work.
• Octoparse ChatGPT Visibility Tracker: It has no API key to set up and is free for your first 2,000 rows each week (via API or MCP), then $80 per 1,000 rows. Since it's usage-based, it may cost less than a flat subscription if you only test a handful of prompts.
• DIY script: If you have a developer, you can call the OpenAI API with your prompts and search the responses for your brand name. One source says this stays cheap for 30-50 prompts.

My recommendation: Start with the free spreadsheet and GA4 this month. If you find you want daily data or more than about 30 prompts, try Otterly's $29 plan or Octoparse's free tier. Prices in these sources were current as of October 2026, but vendors change them often, so confirm on their pricing pages before you buy.

The "cheapest" way to track ChatGPT mentions is to perform a manual, controlled audit. Because LLM answers are not indexed like web pages, even paid tools essentially automate the same process you can do yourself.

1. The Cheapest Method: Manual "Prompt Testing" ($0)

You can gain valuable insights for free by simulating how potential customers search for your category.

• Step 1: Define your "Buyer Questions"

  Do not ask, "Who is [Your Startup]?". Instead, list 15–20 questions a potential customer would ask when trying to solve a problem your product fixes.

  • Examples: "What is the best [category] tool for a small startup?", "What are the top alternatives to [Competitor]?", or "How do I solve [specific problem]?"
• Step 2: Use "Clean" Sessions

  AI models personalize answers based on your history. Always use a logged-out session or Incognito/Private mode in your browser to ensure you are seeing what a new prospect sees.

• Step 3: Record and Track

  Run your list of questions across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and Google AI Overviews. Use a simple spreadsheet to log:

  • Mentioned? (Yes/No)
  • Position (e.g., first recommendation vs. buried at the bottom)
  • Context (How were you described? Did they cite your website?)
  • Competitors (Who else was named?)
• Frequency: Do this once every two weeks or monthly. AI answers are inconsistent; a single check is a snapshot, but three checks over a fortnight give you a reliable range.

2. Low-Cost Automated Alternatives

If your time is worth more than the cost of a subscription, several tools offer "Lite" or entry-level plans specifically for AI visibility.

• Otterly.ai: Frequently cited as one of the best low-cost entry points, offering daily monitoring and reporting at a lower price point than enterprise-grade tools.
• Ahrefs Brand Radar: If you already use an SEO suite, check if your provider has an AI tracking add-on. Ahrefs offers specific tracking for AI mentions that can be integrated into existing workflows.
• DIY Scripting (For Developers): If you have technical resources, you can write a simple Python script to query the OpenAI and Perplexity APIs for your target list of prompts. This is highly cost-effective and allows you to store raw data in a Google Sheet for long-term trend analysis.

Why "Official" Tracking Doesn't Exist

It is important to manage expectations: there is no "OpenAI Analytics Dashboard" because ChatGPT does not expose interaction data. All tracking tools—whether free or $500/month—work by querying the AI engines repeatedly and recording the results.

Recommendation: Start by doing a manual audit for one afternoon. This will help you identify which prompts actually matter and whether your brand is appearing. Once you have a proven set of "high-intent" questions, you can then decide if the volume warrants paying for an automated tool like Otterly.ai.

Cheapest: do it manually for free. Pick 5–10 questions customers might ask (for example, “What’s the best [category] tool for a small team?”), run them in ChatGPT once a week, and log whether your startup appears, its position, competitors mentioned, and any cited sources in a spreadsheet. That’s a useful baseline, though results can vary between runs. ⁴

If you want automated tracking, current listings show free plans with tight limits—for example, Owla reportedly tracks five prompts weekly, and LiftRank offers 10 prompts on a free plan. Check each provider’s limits and current terms before signing up. ⁵

For a low-cost paid option, Otterly.ai is listed from about $29/month; one comparison reports that its entry plan covers 15 prompts. ¹ If you only want to see whether you show up right now, some free AI-visibility checkers offer a few checks without signup—but that’s a spot check, not ongoing monitoring. ²

My recommendation: start with the spreadsheet for a month. Pay only if you need regular runs, history, or alerts—and track realistic buyer questions, not just your company name.